India's Biocon Ltd. makes it to the list of top 100 biotechnology companies in the world

Biocon Ltd. (BOM:532523), the leading Indian biotechnology company, has been ranked the seventh largest employer among the top 1000 global biotechnology companies around the world.

Med Ad News, one of the most respected journals in the field of biotechnology, published the list. For the list, the journal mainly considered drug producing firms for they are the key indicators of ongoing and emerging trends in the global pharmaceuticals market.

After the news came out, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon Ltd. said that it is a matter of immense pride for Biocon to be ranked amongst the top global league of biotech companies. She further said:

"This is a validation of our consistent effort to attain global leadership. This also highlights the true potential of this sector in a country like India. This industry will be a key driver in India's progress towards economic development,"

In the list, the companies were ranked according to the number of employees and Biocon Ltd. is the only Asian company to be included in the list. In 2007, the number of employees working in Biocon was around 3,000 compared to 2543 in 2006. Biocon Ltd. has been ranked 20^th in terms of revenue. Last year, the company earned $27 million in revenue. In terms of research and development, Biocon was obtained 88^th position. In 2007, the company spent $11 million in R&D.

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Aamir Khan Better Prepared for Oscar with “Taare Zameen Par”

Last year’s Bollywood flick “Taare Zameen Par” has been selected as India’s official entry to Oscar. Aamir Khan’s directorial debut saw an extensive success at the box office in India, grossing more than one billion rupees (21 million dollars). "Taare Zameen Par" (Stars on Earth) is a movie that revolves around the story of an eight-year-old boy suffering from dyslexia or learning disorder and relationship with school teacher, the role portrayed by Aamir Khan himself.

This is not the first time that Aamir Khan’s movie has entered into Oscar. Actually, Aamir Khan starrer 2001 movie "Lagaan" (Tax) was the official entry from India to Oscar and reached the top five of the list. "Lagaan" was also released from Aamir Khan Production. However, the actor has recently claimed that he is now better prepared for the forthcoming Oscar and he wants to hire a publicist this time around.

Aamir Khan starrer "Rang de Basanti" was last year’s Oscar nomination from India, but the movie could not go far in the competition. So, Aamir Khan has been a known face in India’s Oscar nominations and the actor thinks he will have advantage as people already know about his previous movies. Now, let us see if Aamir Khan can manage to win the most prestigious Oscar for “Taare Zameen Par”, becoming the only second Indian director after Satyajit Roy.

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Pepsi Co. Inc. Chairman and CEO, Indra Nooyi, declared to invest $500 million in India

Chairman and CEO of American cola giant, Pepsi Co. Inc. (NYSE:PEP), Indra Nooyi, declared to invest half billion dollar in the next three years in India. To understand the potential of the Indian market, twenty six members of Pepsi Co’s executive committee have come to India. For the first time, the company’s executive committee meeting will be held in India. Ms. Nooyi said:

“As a tangible sign of our continued confidence in India, I'm delighted to announce that we are expecting to invest a further USD500 million over the next three yrs with the goal of tripling our business here. This investment will create additional 50000 jobs.”

The half billion dollar investment will be used in increasing manufacturing capacity, building strong a marketing infrastructure, research and development, and sustainability.

Ms. Nooyi took over Pepsi Co. in 2006. Since then, she has been trying to rebuild Pepsi Co’s image as a responsible company that comes with products for all kinds of consumers. Indra Nooyi has been aggressively promoting health products because she believes that health drinks is the future market and she wants to be the first one with new products.

For the Indian market, Ms. Nooyi said that her company wants build up a strong market share in health drinks and aerated drinks sector. The former will be labeled as good-for-you products which will make up 30% of Pepsi Co’s product line and the later, fun-for-you will be 80%.

Useful links:

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/11/06women_Indra-Nooyi_1S5D.html

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Cons_Products/Food/Pepsi_plans_a_500-million_splash_in_India/articleshow/3510797.cms

India vs Australia: What about Indian Team?

In the last few weeks, there was a controversy about the match between India vs Australian in Indian media. The storm was about which matches are most rivalry, India vs Australia or India vs Pakistan. There are different opinions for different area. Even, the little master Sachin Tendulkar also involved himself in this controversy. He told that the matches India-Australia most accepted than India-Pakistan.

topnews.in worte:

He also recalled the days when Indian team achieved a glorious victory over Australia in its home turf and Australian people liked the sports spirit and competitiveness of Indian team. He said that the Indian players need to be well prepared for coming series

I think there is none who does not know that India-Pakistan matches are the most anticipated matches in the cricket era. Now, question is why? There are many reasons on behalf of this. There are many fans in the subcontinent who lives India, Pakistan, Bangladesh.

IndianExpress wrote:

Dubbed the "Fab Four", former captains Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar plus V S Laxman are coming under pressure ahead of a high-profile home test series against Australia starting on Oct 9.

Why these controversies arise during this time? I think Indian team is in bad position about their senior players. They are out of forms in this time so the selectors are in trouble to declare the team.

Windows Mobile 6.1 Update Available for Verizon Motorola Q9c Mobile Phone Users

Motorola Q9c mobile phone users on Verizon network can now update their aging handset to Windows Mobile 6.1 platform. The update of Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM is now available on Motorola’s software update support portal. By this update, Motorola Q9 phone users on Verizon network can enjoy a new look UI along with copy/paste and threaded SMS text messages features.

Updating Motorola Q9c to Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM can bring a facelift in the phone. The update of Windows Mobile 6.1 for Motorola Q9c is available here. However, it is advised to all of the users of Motorola Q9c to keep back up of all of the data.

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Sony Ericsson XperiaTM X1 Mobile Phone Coming to India

Sony Ericsson XperiaTM X1 will be launched officially on 30 September 2008 in APAC and other regions. The mobile phone features innovative design with stylish look. However, the phone will not be available across the world. In fact, Sony Ericsson XperiaTM X1 will hit some selected markets in the Q4 of 2008.

Sony Ericsson XperiaTM X1 comes with some eye-catching features. However, the design of the phone seems to be the prime attraction among all of the features. Xperia X1 is aimed at providing multimedia experience to the users. Announcement of Sony Ericsson XperiaTM X1 came at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February 2008.

Aiming to provide converged entertainment besides mobile web communication experience, Sony Ericsson XperiaTM X1 comes in a gorgeous stainless steel body. A wide full QWERTY keypad is also available in the phone. Actually, Sony Ericsson XperiaTM X1 is a mobile phone featuring innovative design and powerful multimedia experience.

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Review of Micro Express JFL9226 Laptop

Micro Express launched it’s first ever laptop run on Intel’s Centrino 2 platform with an affordable price range. Micro Express JFL9226 is the company’s latest product which is capable of serving as an all-purpose laptop. Now, let us have a look at the pros and cons of the notebook computer below:

First of all, Micro Express JFL9226 features 3 GB of RAM and Intel Centrino 2 2.53-GHz T9400 processor with 4.5 hours of battery support. The portable has 15.4-inch widescreen with 1280-by-800-pixel resolution thanks to its 256MB nVidia GeForce 9600GT GPU. Users can change the video modes using a key located at the top of the keyboard and the laptop also comes with WoW Video feature. The laptop comes pre-loaded with 200GB of hard disk drive.

Among the other features of Micro Express JFL9226 laptop are an integrated Webcam, microphone, 1000-mbps Ethernet, ports for modem, besides the 802.11 LAN connectivity. Micro Express JFL9226 comes with a price tag of $1299 which does not seem to be too much considering the handful of features it offers.

If you want to know more about the features of Micro Express JFL9226, then visit PC World review of the laptop.